1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to a unique device in which the several guide wires for catheters or other interventional devices used in a typical endovascular procedure for diagnostics or other purposes are presented, stored and disposed of in a secure, ordered and easily accessible manner.
2. Prior Art
Guide wires of different diameters, lengths, materials and construction may be used in the same procedure. These wires are typically delivered to the operating room in sterile bags in a coiled form and start at approximately 75 cm. in length. They are removed from the bags and inserted into a patient's body into a tubular structure of interest. The external portion is coiled by hand and typically stored under a sterile towel or placed in a bowl filled with a saline solution. Once a guide wire is in place, a balloon catheter, stent or atherectomy device may be sent along the wire and the wire removed and later reused for another stenosis or sight of interest or it may be advanced further into the patient. These wires are difficult to handle while avoiding contact with non-sterile surfaces. It is not easy for a physician to select the desired wire or catheter for the procedure if several are stored together and tangling of adjacent wires is also a problem. If a wire should uncoil unexpectedly a chance for contact with a non-sterile surface occurs. Open bowls filled with various wires are not very stable. A device which attempts to provide an ordered storage of wire catheter devices during an endovascular procedure was described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,825 Samuels 2000 wherein a long tube which can be coiled or elongated with a funnel type opening on one end and a slotted cover for the funnel end is disclosed. The various catheters are inserted through the various slots which separate the ends of the catheters but do not keep them isolated from each other and in a sterile environment. A ring or collar can be placed around the base or the face of the funnel such that it is held in an elevated attitude keeping fluids in the elongated tube from escaping. The most significant problem with these type storage devices is that the various catheters are all enclosed within the same tube and cross contamination or tangling is not only possible but likely. The described device also is not very stable and spills in use or post procedure handling are possible.